Sometimes the blindingly, glimpsingly obvious isn’t all that obvious, but here it is anyway: Men and women of God’s Word, men and women who actually read their Bibles, end up living a much more powerful, much more victorious, much more fulfilling life than those who don’t. It’s obvious, you’d think.

The Way to God’s Blessing

I know you’ve heard it all before. You should read your Bible more; we get that, but for many people, it’s a chore. When you hear the word “Bible”, come on … In your heart of hearts, how do you respond? I know I used to cringe at the idea that anybody can be so narrow, so religiously geeky if that makes sense, as to actually read the Bible. But after I’d been a Christian for a while, you know what? It became a chore. It’s like when I was a kid learning the piano and my parents insisted on me practising at least half an hour every day. Really? A whole half an hour? And that … That’s how so many Christians approach the idea of reading their Bibles. They’re being told so many times, “Read your Bible”, that every time they hear it, it conjures up a sense of duty; a sense of responsibility and labour, and (let’s be honest here) guilt in their minds.

How about you? How do you feel about the Bible that’s gathering dust somewhere in your house? Oh and by the way, if you happen to be someone who does open their Bibles most days (and the research confirms this), you’re one of the very few people in God’s kingdom who does. So for many people, either the Bible has a bad rap as some dreary, boring, fundamentalist thing that narrows your mind and fuels your life with a list of dos and don’ts, or it’s a source of guilt. That’s the majority view – sensational! But what if I told you it’s not meant to be either of those? Have a go at this. Psalm 119:1-3:

Happy are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the Law of the LORD. Happy are those who keep His decrees, who seek Him with all their heart; who also do no wrong, but walk in His ways.

Happy, eh? The original Hebrew word there means either to be happy or to be blessed. Who doesn’t want to be happy? Who doesn’t want to be blessed? So who is it who is happy and blessed? Well, those whose way is blameless; those who walk in the Law of the LORD; those who keep His decrees; those those who seek Him with all their hearts; those who do no wrong, but walk in God’s ways. God’s Law; His decrees; His ways, and that’s what the Bible is all about.

I know what you’re thinking. “Who needs a whole bunch more rules in their lives?” I get that, but the happiness and the blessedness actually come to those who are blameless; those who do right; those who have a clear conscience. God’s Law; God’s decrees; God’s ways … That’s how you get to that place.

Perhaps that’s why God takes His Word so seriously: Because there’s so much good in there for you and me. It strikes me as incredibly sad that so many people who say that they believe in Jesus actually look at God’s Word (the Bible) as an optional extra; as an add-on if you will. The number of times people Email me with this mess in their life or that challenge, this problem or that temptation, this and that, and sure; I can give them answers from God’s Word that’ll speak right into that situation to bring healing or power or wisdom; whatever’s needed, and I do that because God’s Word is packed full of more healing and more power and more wisdom than you or I will ever need in a lifetime, but I often ask these same people, “So, how often do you read your Bible?” On the rare occasion that I get a response, it goes something like this: “Oh, I don’t have time.” That’s the most common one. “Oh, it’s hard to understand.” That’s the second-most common one. “Oh, I don’t think it’s that relevant.” Yeah, that’s the third-most common response.

Let me be blunt here. We behave as though listening to God speak isn’t all that important but then, when people have a problem they can’t solve, they turn to a preacher like me to help them solve the problem from God’s Word. Doesn’t that strike you as just a little crazy? A lot, maybe?

So what does God have to say? Let’s listen to Him. Psalm 119:4-6:

You have commanded Your precepts to be kept diligently. O, that my ways may be steadfast in keeping Your statutes! Then I shall not be put to shame, having my eyes fixed on all Your commandments.

See, keeping God’s precepts isn’t an optional extra; it’s God’s command. There are eight different words used in Psalm 119 for the Word of God, the Bible. One of them is precepts, and the sense of this is that God made us. God knows us. He knows how we should live, so that we’re not put to shame. Shame interrupts our intimacy – our fellowship with God. It takes away the blessings, the happiness, the joy, of living in a relationship with Him the way we were meant to. He doesn’t want that for you. Shame was what drove the first wedge between God and humanity, when Adam and Eve ate of that one tree that they were told not to eat from. Shame is what’s ruining our lives, and much better than asking someone for help in the middle of a problem that’s confounding you is avoiding the problem in the first place. Wouldn’t you agree? God wants the very best for you, because He loves you, and the place to find His very best (honestly) is the Bible.

If shame is something that ruins our lives, then the opposite of that is a good heart; a sound heart; a clear conscience. You know what it’s like. When you do something that you know is wrong, your conscience eats away at you; it just does. God put it there for a reason. It’s that part of us, made as we are in the image of God, that helps us turn our ways back to Him. When our conscience is troubled, it robs us of peace; it robs us of joy, and more often than not, it robs us of sleep, and that’s why living our lives God’s way is the best way. Really.

Most people think (and honestly, this is how I used to think too) that if you become a Christian, you have to live life by a set of rigid rules, and that’s going to narrow your life somehow. It’s going to rob you of being able to do all the things you want to do, but actually, the exact opposite is true. Psalm 119:7-8:

I will praise You with an upright heart when I learn Your righteous ordinances. I will observe Your statutes; do not utterly forsake me.

When we discover the right way to live – good, wholesome, pure, gentle, kind, loving, generous, sacrificial, loyal, honest – all the qualities we admire in other people, all of a sudden, we’re living with a clear conscience and that clear conscience is where we discover the freedom that Jesus came to bring us. God describes Himself as our Father. In fact, Jesus used the word Abba, which means daddy, and He’s a good Father – the best. All He wants is the best for you and me, and what I’ve discovered is that there are actually very few things about which He says to us, ‘Don’t do them.’

Go back to Adam and Eve. There were doubtless thousands of fruit-bearing trees n the garden. There was only one of which God said, ‘Don’t eat from this one,’ because He knew it would be bad for them. They would discover the difference between good and evil. Why? How? Because their conscience would convict them of their wrongdoing.

You and I, we know when we’ve done something wrong, and that sense of guilt ruins everything. Every thing. What God wants for you is to be free to worship Him; to live in freedom with an upright heart; with a clear conscience. I will praise You with an upright heart. When? When I learn His right ordinances; when I learn to live in goodness and light, rather than in evil and darkness, and the place where we discover how to do that – the place where we get the knowledge and the wisdom and the power to live for Him – is in the Bible. The amazing love-letter that He’s preserved right down through the ages.

Make Your Heart a Healthy Heart

If you’re a parent, you’ll know what it’s like to experience conflict with your children. If I had a penny or a rupee or a cent for every time I’ve said to my kids, “All I want is the best for you”, I’d be a very wealthy man. Here’s how the conflict happens. They do something that you know is wrong, something that you know is going to hurt them, so you step in. As their parent, you have wisdom; you have insight; you have experience to guide them in the right direction, but they resent that because as the saying goes, you can’t put an old head on young shoulders. Children tend to view the discipline of their parents as something negative. It’s not until they grow up that they can look back and see how the wisdom and the discipline of their parents has made them who they are today.

And you know, the same is true in our relationship with God. We so often resent the fact that there’s a handful of things which He says to us, “Don’t do them.” Why? Because He has the wisdom that we don’t, and just as we did when we were teenagers, we want to rebel against the wisdom of our Father. Am I right?

So what’s the answer to that? I think it’s a change of heart on our part. It’s coming to the mature position of recognising that God’s ways are the best ways, and if I keep myself to His ways, then I’m going to have a better life. I’ll be more of a blessing; I’ll have fewer hassles, and even when I’m travelling through the odd wilderness experience here and there, as we all do, I’ll be better able to deal with that.

Take for instance the wisdom of a parent to a child who’s moving from teenage into adult years: Wisdom about sexual propriety. These days, kids all want to sleep around, but any parent filled with just a bit of Godly wisdom knows how dangerous, how painful, and how harmful that can be to their child. Psalm 119:9:

How can young people keep their way pure? By guarding it according to Your Word.

Sexual desire is a very strong desire. We all have very strong desires, young or old, but not all of those desires are good ones. Not all of our apparently natural desires are beneficial. Some of them can be downright harmful and destructive: Selfishness; envy; immorality … There’s quite a list of things that we know are bad for us, but how do we keep our ways pure? By guarding them according to God’s Word; by being in the Bible day after day and gleaning the wisdom and frankly, also the incredible Holy Spirit’s power to steer clear of those destructive ways.

The problem with our apparently natural desires and the destructive ways to which they lead is … well … frankly, they’re so seductive. Have you noticed that? Temptation is always seductive, and of course that’s by design. Satan knows that if he can make a terrible thing like (let’s say) adultery appear attractive, then he is going to destroy many-a marriage.

It seems to me that each one of us has some Achilles heel, some sin that’s our weak point – the chink in our armour if you will, that the devil consistently exploits in order to make us stumble over and over again, until finally we fall. Have you noticed that too? So what we find is that our heart is torn in this direction to fall into temptation, and in that direction to honour God, and with a divided heart, we find ourselves flip-flopping all over the place: Some days honouring God, and other days … well … not so much. Right?

How do we get over that? How do we powerfully deal with the sin in our lives, so that we can live a life that truly honours God – a life that truly reflects God’s glory which, after all, is probably the desire of your heart anyway? Well, as always, God has the answer. Psalm 119:10-11:

With my whole heart I seek You; do not let me stray from Your commandments. I treasure Your Word in my heart, so that I may not sin against You.

I love this, because it’s the Psalmist talking to God, and what he’s saying is that he’s taken a heart-decision: A decision of the heart to seek God and based on that decision, he’s asking God to stop him from straying from His commandments. Don’t you love that? The man, aware of his own inability to honour God, is inviting God Himself into the equation: The all-powerful God who ultimately sent Jesus to this earth to defeat Satan in our lives.

Heart-decisions are always the most powerful decisions. We can decide things in our minds; sure, but when we make a deep decision of the heart and ask God to step into that decision, wow! You’re in for some serious power to change, and notice too how the Psalmist writes:

I treasure Your Word in my heart, so that I may not sin.

Something happens when we treasure the Word of God in our hearts. God’s ways become more important to us than our ways. God’s words become more important to us than what other people say.

Listen up. God wants to bring some powerful change to your life: Today, tomorrow, the next day … For the rest of your days here on this earth. Serious, powerful change, but what He’s looking for is a deep decision of the heart to seek Him and to treasure His Word.

Get a Revelation

You know, it never ceases to amaze me how easy it is to ignore the things that we’re taught. I remember during my tertiary studies plenty of times sitting in class, hearing the lecturer speaking and yet allowing my mind to wander. I still have notes from lectures where my handwriting falls off the page, where I fell asleep during the lecture. A good friend of mine tells of a teacher who said to him once, “Son, you sit and think, but mostly you just sit.”

Often our undoing isn’t as a result of a lack of knowledge, but our failure to learn and apply what we’re being taught. I’ve watched people at church as the preacher preaches a really good sermon. Their minds have kind of wandered off somewhere else, or they’re more interested in that woman over there who just walked in late or whatever’s going on. Now imagine that morning, when you were sitting in that church, hearing the preacher but not really listening, imagine that God was wanting to speak to you, through His Word. God had a special message, something powerful to say to you that would change your life, but you weren’t paying attention. Sad to say, that happens a lot more often than we’d like to think.

So let’s take a look at the complete opposite of that: A heart that’s open; that’s ready; that’s listening and hanging on God’s every word. Psalm 119:12-16:

Blessed are You, o LORD; teach me Your statutes! With my lips, I declare all the ordinances of Your mouth. I delight in the way of Your decrees as much as in all riches. I will meditate on Your precepts and fix my eyes on Your ways. I will delight in Your statutes; I will not forget Your Word.

That right there is a man speaking to God about his heart to learn from what God has to say. There is a man with a teachable heart: Not only ready to listen to what God has to say, but to live by what God has to say.

So I’m thinking, what if everyone who believes in Jesus, what if everyone who calls themselves a Christian, had a heart like that? What would the church look like then? What would this world look like then? How much more love, more peace, more sacrifice, more service, more healing, more reconciliation would be happening in this world if we all, you and I, lived with that sort of a heart towards God?

Teach me Your statutes, o God. I will declare Your Word with my lips. I will delight in Your ways as much as in all riches! I will meditate on Your Word and fix my eyes on Your ways. I’ll delight in Your Word, and I won’t forget it. Wow!

But there’s something else that we need to get that sort of insight, that sort of impact in our lives from God’s Word. The essential ingredient of having a teachable heart, the essential prerequisite if you will, is having a humble heart: A heart that is aware of the deep spiritual poverty that lies within. Often the reason we don’t take God’s instruction (God’s wisdom) to heart is because there’s this translucent veil of self, as A. W. Tozer calls it, draped over our hearts. ‘I know everything! If only my wife or my husband or that person over there would listen to what the preacher’s preaching today! Well, this world would be a better place! If only they would get it!’ That’s often how we think. Right? It never crosses our minds that what God is saying today through His Word is meant for us; that He’s trying to deal with that poverty within us, that’s robbing us of the abundant life that Jesus came to give us.

Come on, we all have blind spots. We all have things about ourselves that we can’t see. Well, that’s the whole point of it being a blind spot, right? We just can’t see it. Jesus said (Matthew 5:3):

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

In other words, those who recognise their deep poverty, those who admit it, they’re the ones who’ll be blessed because the kingdom of heaven is for them. What blind spots do you have? The answer is, you don’t know because they’re blind spots. The same’s true of me. I have my blind spots too. The question is, what do you do about them? So try this on for size. Psalm 119:17-19:

Deal bountifully with Your servant, so that I may live and observe Your Word. Open my eyes, so that I may behold the wondrous things of Your Law. I live as an alien in the land; do not hide Your commandments from me.

What do we do about our blind spots? We ask God to open our eyes, so that we can see the point of what He’s trying to say to us; so that when we open the Bible and read His Word, the Holy Spirit will lift that one particular verse or that one particular story that He has for us today right off the page and plonk it into our hearts; so that in an instant, we’ll get what He’s trying to say to us, in a way that completely and utterly and radically changes us; in a way that deals with some of the deep spiritual poverty in our hearts.

When was the last time that you went to God and asked Him to deal bountifully with you, to open your eyes so that you could behold the wonders of His Word? When was the last time you said to God, “LORD, I’m an alien in this world. This life down here is tough today. I need Your Word, so don’t hide Your commandments from me?” In James 1:5, God says that:

If any of you is lacking in wisdom, ask God, who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given to you.

Sometimes we wrestle with problems and we just can’t find the solution. The solution, though, is in asking God to help; asking God to open our eyes; asking God to give us the wisdom that we don’t have.

If only the going was always easy. But life’s not like that. Sometimes we have to travel through difficult times. Times that test our patience, our endurance and our faith. And it’s right in the middle of those times that God’s Word holds the answers that we need to make it through.

Life Wasn’t Meant to be Easy

These days, it’s a bit unpopular for someone like me to be talking about obedience to God’s Word. It’s not something most of us want to hear. Aw, come on Berni, teach me about grace, tell me about God’s blessings, I want to know more about God’s love.

That’s the stuff people want to hear about and sure, they’re all really good things. I mean, really good things. But what about these particular verses of Scripture, John chapter 14, verse 15:

If you love me, you will obey my commandments.

1 John chapter 5, verse 3:

For the love of God is this, that we obey his commandments.

No, obedience to God’s Word is not a particularly popular concept these days. But the whole point of obeying God, is that the only things He tells us not to do, are the things that are going to bring harm to us and the people around us. So paradoxically, obedience brings freedom. Obedience sets us free from the consequences of our sin … and sin … sin always has consequences, right?

Okay that’s great. But what about when the going gets tough? What about when other people are doing the wrong thing, and we’re hurting? What about obedience to God’s Word in that place when the degree of difficulty gets ratcheted up to about a 9.9? Psalm 119, verses 20 to 24:

My soul is consumed with longing for your ordinances at all times. You rebuke the insolent, accursed ones, who wander from your commandments; take away from me their scorn and their contempt, for I have kept your decrees. Even though princes sit plotting against me, your servant will meditate on your statutes. Your decrees are my delight, they are my counsellors.

That’s amazing, because the man writing this Psalm, the man speaking to God here, is under a lot of pressure. But he’s taken a stand. He’s made a decision that he will long for God’s will, God’s Word, God’s ways, when? Just in the good times? No! At all times! Even when evil people are heaping scorn and contempt on him, even when princes are plotting against him. That’s a tough decision, but it’s the right one.

Many centuries later, the Apostle Paul put it this way. Galatians chapter 6, verse 9:

So let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest time, if we do not give up.

The time when God’s Word is most important, when God’s wisdom is most important, when God’s ways are most important, is when the going gets tough. Right in that moment when we want to give up honouring God by living His way, right in that instant, that’s when obedience to God’s Word is most important.

Because in that moment, the enemy wants to snatch your inheritance away from you. But don’t give up, because there’s a harvest coming. When? Well, at harvest time of course!

The trick, I guess, the piece of wisdom, the powerful Word that God wants us to hear today though, is don’t give up in doing what is right. Don’t give up honouring and obeying God. But that’s not always going to be easy is it?

One of the things I love about the Hebrew culture in which the Psalms of the Old Testament were written, is the powerful use of picture language to express deep emotions. The Jewish tradition is full of rich, evocative picture language, like Psalm 119, verses 25 and 26:

My soul clings to the dust; revive me according to your word. When I told of my ways, you answered me; teach me your statutes.

Just drink that picture in for a moment: my soul clings to the dust. It speaks of complete and utter desolation. It speaks of burdens so heavy, a body so weary, that it’s lying in the dust, barely able to move. Not even able to lift its head to look up at God.

When you’re in that place, it feels hopeless. It feels lonely. It feels as though you’re the only one who’s ever been there, and nobody else understands.

My soul clings to the dust. It’s a picture that we all get. It’s a picture that speaks into the desolation that we’ve all felt. Perhaps you’re in that place right now, where your soul is sucking in the dust, with nothing else to cling to. It’s the place where we want to give up, because we don’t have a single ounce of energy left in us. Yeah, we’ve all been there.

So, what do you do? What does the Psalmist do? What does he have to say to God?

God, revive me according to your word. When I told of my ways, you answered me; teach me your statutes.

The first part of that makes a lot of sense – God revive me. The obvious thing to do, the obvious place to turn, the obvious cry for help … although how often do we miss the obvious?

The question is, how does God bring that revival to an exhausted and completely depleted soul? Well, the psalmist knows!

Revive me according to your word. When I told you of my ways, you answered me; teach me your statutes.

You see, when we’re in that desolate, dusty place, we need a way back. A real, tangible way back. And that way is through the Word of God. It’s through God speaking to us. God’s Word is food for the starving soul. God’s Word is living water for a parched soul. But how often do we miss the obvious?

I’ve seen Christians from time to time praying for revival. But revival begins at home. There will be no revival unless and until the living water, the Spirit of God, overflows from His people. You and I need revival in our hearts. You and I need to be filled to overflowing with the revelation of God through His Word, the joy of God, the healing of God, the Spirit of God.

Revival begins at home! Lord revive me, according to your word.

God’s Word is a powerful thing, because not only does it bring revival to our hearts, not only does God breathe His Sprit into us through His Word, not only does God deliver His new life for us through His Word, but His Word also brings understanding. And understanding is wisdom.

Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you don’t understand what’s going on – either around you, or in you, or both? Sure you have, so have I. I mean, sometimes we don’t even understand ourselves, let alone our circumstances, or the way other people behave and think.

And the absence of that understanding, that wisdom if you will, makes life a difficult thing to live. Understanding as it turns out, is the key to living life. Psalm 119, verses 27 to 32:

Lord, make me understand the way of your precepts, and I will meditate on your wondrous works. My soul melts away for sorrow; strengthen me according to your word. Put false ways far from me; and graciously teach me your law. I have chosen the way of faithfulness; I set your ordinances before me. I cling to your decrees, O Lord; let me not be put to shame. I run the way of your commandments, for you enlarge my understanding.

Understanding is mentioned twice in that passage, once at the beginning and once at the end. Again we see that the Psalmist is going through difficult times – my soul melts away for sorrow – and yet the thing that he asks for is understanding.

That in itself is surprising enough. We spend our time asking God to take away the pain when our souls are melting away through sorrow, but the Psalmist is asking instead, for understanding. But understanding of what? Of the ways of God’s precepts. In other words:

Okay God, Your Word, Your precepts, they’re all fine, that’s a given. But now, God, I want to understand the ways of your precepts. I want to understand how the rubber hits the road. I want to understand how I can live them out, because I want your strength, I want to put false hope far from me, so teach me. I’ll cling to your Word, because I know that as I live it out, You are going to enlarge my understanding.

What a powerful prayer. It’s a prayer for on-the-job training. You imagine asking God for that, over and over again … imagine the understanding, the wisdom, the power that God is going to unleash in your life. Just imagine!

Here’s the thing: God wants to do powerful things in you and through you, He just does. And He’s put His Word there, the Bible, through which to give you, all the understanding you need.

Make me understand the ways of your precepts, and I will meditate on your wondrous works. Wow!

A Heart for God’s Word

If I were to ask you today, what is the one thing that you’re focussing on at the moment, what would that be? What’s the biggest thing going on in your heart at the moment?

The truth is, that from time to time the things of this earth grab our attention. Some of those things are good things. Some of those things are bad things.

In a few months’ time my daughter is going to be getting married. Well, you can imagine, that’s pretty much the focus of things in our household at the moment. There’s nothing wrong with any of that, unless and until the things of this world bubble to the top of our priority list, above God Himself.

When that happens, our lives have a way of going pear-shaped. All of a sudden, when we get our priorities the wrong way around, we start to live out the consequences of that. So let me come back to that question: what is your heart focussed on at the moment? What’s at the top of your list, hmm? Psalm 119 verses 35 and 36:

Lead me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it. Turn my heart to your decrees, and not to selfish gain.

This Psalm is written by a man who is speaking to God. So, when he says: lead me in the path of your commandments and turn my heart to your decrees, He’s asking God to do those two things for Him.

Psalm 119 blows me away. It’s the longest chapter in the Bible – 176 verses all-in-all. And the majority of it is a prayer, asking God essentially to help this man who is writing it, to get his life straight, by getting God’s Word into his heart. That’s the bottom line of the whole Psalm. God I can’t do it on my own, I need your help.

That’s a great admission, because it happens to be true. And here in verses 35 and 36, the Psalmist is asking God to turn his heart to God’s decrees rather than to his own selfish gain.

That’s the pivot point in our hearts isn’t it? Our whole lives swing on this hinge between honouring God and selfish gain. Between right and wrong. And that’s why I keep asking you: what’s the focus of your heart right at the moment? Where is your heart? Focussed on honouring God or on selfish gain? The answer matters. It matters a lot.

There is such power in the Word of God to set you free from your selfishness. Why is it that people leave their Bibles on a shelf somewhere gathering dust? God has the power to set you free. Free from the consequences of sin. All you need to do is to ask Him for His help and He will step in.

And here’s the thing about God’s help. It’s intensely practical. Intensely real. In our lives on this earth, you and I, we’re prone to trusting things that we can see. It’s only natural. We live in a physical world, so we trust in physical things.

We know, for instance, that tonight the sun will set, and in the morning it will rise again. We trust in relationships. We trust in our circumstances, good or bad. We trust in our pay packets and our bank balances. And to a point that’s as it should be … to a point. Up until the point where we trust in those things above and beyond who God is and what He says He will do. At that point, you’ve started trusting your life into things that are not worthy of that level of trust.

If you have a share-portfolio that’s worth a certain amount of money, hey, the market could plummet tomorrow. The same is true of every other physical thing on this earth – they can give way … in an instant. And so often, we’re caught out, because we’ve place our trust in the wrong things.

That’s why we need God’s help, His intensely practical help, to get our hearts focussed on the right things. Psalm 119, verses 37 to 40:

Turn my eyes from looking at vanities; give me life in your ways. Confirm to your servant your promise, which is for those who fear you. Turn away the disgrace that I dread, for your ordinances are good. See, I have longed for your precepts; in your righteousness give me life.

So here the Psalmist is asking God to turn his eyes away from all those vanities, all those false idols in which we place our trust. What idols as you trusting in at the moment? In what vanities have you placed your trust? Hmm?

Father God turn my eyes from looking at those vanities and give me life in your ways, literally, give me living energy to pursue the way marked out by You O God.

That’s it! That’s what I need, that’s what you need. Living energy. Holy Spirit energy, to head God’s way, to trust God to lead us forward, rather than placing our hope in false idols.

Friend, God’s promises are true. Those false idols, ultimately are going to lead you to disgrace. But God’s promises will never fail.

God I’ve seen that your ways are good. I long for your ways. Lead me in them. Give me life.

What a great prayer. What a powerful way to change your heart. Try as we might, we cannot change our own hearts for ourselves. But God’s living energy, the power of His Word, the power of His Spirit – that’s where we get a change of heart. That’s where we get a change of focus.

God doesn’t want you to continue trusting in idols, dreading the disgrace that they will ultimately bring. He wants to shift your focus, transform your heart, with His living energy. Because when we walk in God’s ways, then all of a sudden we discover what freedom really is.

It pains me to tell you this, but for the first thirty-six years of my life, I thought I was free. Free to live my life the way I wanted. But now, looking back on that time before I accepted Jesus into my heart, I realise that I was nothing but a captive.

The best way to describe it, is that I looked successful and happy on the outside, but on the inside, I was plagued by fear and doubt. On the inside, I was a complete mess. That’s because I was a captive rather than living as a free man. That’s because the expectations of this world dominated my heart. Again, the Psalmist puts it like this, Psalm 119 verses 41 to 46:

Let your steadfast love come to me, O Lord, your salvation according to your promise. Then I shall have an answer for those who taunt me, for I trust in your word. Do not take the word of truth utterly out of my mouth, for my hope is in your ordinances. I will keep your law continually, forever and ever. I shall walk in liberty, for I have sought your precepts. I will also speak of your decrees before kings, and shall not be put to shame.

I really get that bit about having an answer for those who taunt me. The criticism, the mockery of others, used to be like arrows into my heart.

Let me ask you, to what extent are you marching to the beat of the world’s drum? To what extent are you dancing to the tunes of the expectations of others? And when you can’t meet those expectations, people criticise you, people reject you, they throw you out like a worthless piece of trash.

We spend way too much time and energy striving, sacrificing, performing in order receive the approval of others, only to fail, only to miss the mark, only to discover that it’s a pursuit that’s hollow and empty and simply not worth the effort.

But the more we get into God’s Word, the more we discover the steadfast love that God has for us, the more we get to know God’s Word and trust God’s Word, the less those things matter. And the less those things matter, the more we discover the freedom that we have in Jesus Christ.

I shall walk in liberty for I have sought your precepts! Yes! Hallelujah! Absolutely! Freedom. God’s freedom. There is such freedom when we get it into our hearts that we’re meant to live our lives for an audience of One. That’s what God has ready and waiting for you. True freedom in His ways, in His precepts, in His Word. Jesus said:

If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

Jesus is the Way

It’s rather an odd thing, but one of the names that Jesus is given in the Bible, is that He is the “Word of God”.

Now we normally use that term ‘the Word of God’ for the Bible itself, because, after all, it’s through the Bible that God speaks His words into our lives. Fair enough. But have you ever thought how powerfully God speaks to us through Jesus Himself, the very Son of God … God in the flesh? This is how the Apostle John puts it. John chapter 1, verses 1 to 5:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in  the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

We all travel through dark times, we just do. And in those dark times, what we need is light. Jesus came to be that light. This is what He said of Himself – John chapter 8, verse 12:

I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.

Jesus is God speaking to us in a language that we can understand. And that’s why in my own personal reading of the Bible, I always make sure that from time to time, I cycle through one of the Gospels. Right now I’m just about to finish the book of Psalms and head into Matthew’s Gospel.

Why? Because Jesus is God revealing Himself to us – to you, to me. And I don’t know about you, but I need that Light in my life. I need Jesus speaking directly into my life. I need a deep, personal, intimate relationship with Jesus, as I walk with Him and for Him, day by day.

Without Jesus, we don’t know God, indeed, we cannot know God. Without Jesus we can’t find the way to God, because Jesus is the Way.

Might I ask you today, what darkness do you have going on in your life? What fears, what uncertainties, what worries are at the forefront of your thinking right at this moment? What situations are confusing you and confounding you and proving completely impossible for you to overcome?

Jesus is the answer. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. All things that were created, were created through Him and by Him. He has knowledge and wisdom and power beyond anything we can imagine.

And He is the light for all people. That includes you. And when that light, His light, the Light of the world shines in your life, the darkness simply cannot overcome it. Jesus is the answer.

Sometimes it’s hard to remember that God is good, when life simply isn’t. In fact, sometimes it’s downright impossible. That’s why God is revealing His goodness every moment of every day, through His Word.

God is Good

So life is going along ok I guess, with its ups and downs, but something doesn’t quite feel right. You’re not completely happy with the way things are going, and that has a way of grinding away at you. The burdens become heavier, the longer you carry them. The spark you once had deep inside seems to have disappeared, and when you’re in the middle of all that, your perception of who God is, how He acts, is incredibly important because it’ll shape your expectation of His involvement in your life at that moment. Is God someone who’s going to graciously step in to comfort you or is He distant, uninvolved? What are you expecting of God?

Sadly too many people don’t have a right expectation, a good expectation, because instead of spending some precious time in God’s Word every day, they’re too busy, it would seem. What we need in those difficult times is a way back into the comforting arms of God. Would you agree? So, what is that way back? How do we experience the comfort of God?

I don’t know quite where you’re at in life at the moment, but we all need God’s comfort (God’s presence) from time to time, so let’s take a look at what God has to say about the way back. Psalm 119:49-52:

Remember Your Word to Your servant, in which You have made me hope. This is my comfort in my affliction, that Your promise gives me life. The insolent utterly deride me, but I do not turn away from Your Law. When I think of Your rules from old, I take comfort, o LORD.

Now all that seems a bit strange. I take comfort when I think of Your rules from old. Really? Do you? Rules. What’s the Psalmist actually saying to God, and more importantly, what’s God saying to you and me here today?

Well, back then, they didn’t have the whole Bible. They only had the first five books – the books of the Law, as they were known; the rules, if you will: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, although they’re much more than just rules. They’re the story of what God’s done in creation, in leading His people out of slavery, and taking them to the promised land. They’re the story of God’s love, and His faithfulness to those whom He loves.

This is my comfort in my affliction, that Your promise gives me life, writes the Psalmist. Where does he get his comfort from? From meditating on God’s Word; from reading God’s promises; from remembering the mighty things that God’s already done; from seeing who God is through what He says and more importantly, what He does for His people when they’re afflicted. You see, that’s the way back to God’s comfort.

When we’re caught up in the doom and gloom that sometimes envelops our lives, the last thing we expect of God is that He’d be gracious, full of grace that He is ready to pour out onto us. Oh, maybe you know the theory, “My grace is sufficient for you.” Right? but knowing that in your heart, expecting that of God, experiencing that, that’s a whole another thing.

But today I believe with all my heart (in fact, I know with all my heart) that God wants you to become someone who experiences His grace every moment of every day, for the rest of your life. Is that something that you’d like to receive? Well, I can’t give it to you, but God can, through His Spirit and His Word. Psalm 119:55-58:

I remember Your name in the night, o LORD, and keep Your Law. This blessing has fallen to me, that I have kept Your precepts. The LORD is my portion; I promise to keep Your Word. I entreat Your favour with all my heart; be gracious to me, according to Your promise.

You see, the question is, what is it that would give you confidence (the complete and absolute confidence) in the graciousness of God towards you? How can the light of His grace shine in your heart when there’s darkness all around? And make no mistake about it; the Psalmist is writing those words there, going through some terribly dark times:

I remember Your name in the night, o LORD.

Isn’t night-time always the worst time? Things churn around in your mind, and the fear sets in; the cold sweats … I’ve been there and I’m sure you have too. It’s in those dark hours that we need to remember the name of the LORD; to experience His blessings falling on us; to know that no matter what we may lose in this world, the LORD is our portion.

From where does the Psalmist draw his confidence? From knowing God’s precepts and keeping them. You have to know God’s Word to live God’s Word, and you know what it’s like. When you’ve been through a difficult situation but you’ve handled it in a Godly way – a loving way, a humble way, a way that honours God, it may have been hard. It may have hurt a lot, but doing good in the midst of bad puts a quiet confidence in your heart. Not an arrogant self-righteousness; that’s not what the Psalmist is talking about:

This blessing has fallen to me, that I have kept Your precepts.

In the darkest of a night, knowing that you’ve lived through those difficulties and challenges in a way that honours God is a huge blessing, and that gives you the confidence to entreat God in those dark hours that He would be gracious to you, according to His promises. It’s an incredibly powerful truth that our behaviour affects our thinking, and our thinking affects our behaviour. The two are inexorably linked. Without a shadow of a doubt, the biggest (I mean the single-biggest) change-agent for good in my life over the last twenty-one-and-a-half years, since I gave my life to Jesus, has been reading God’s Word almost every day of my life: Not every day, but most days, and not just reading His Word, but reflecting on it; receiving it, and then responding to it.

Think about it. We all want a better life. Right? Self-improvement is a multi-billion-dollar industry worldwide. There are business gurus; success gurus; life gurus; health gurus, all sprouting their stuff, all claiming to have the answers. If only we’ll buy their book; attend their conference; sign up for their programme online. People are lapping this stuff up, and paying through the nose for it.

Peter Drucker, the man who years ago invented the term the knowledge worker … He once said the reason people use the word guru is that charlatan is often too long for the headlines. See, these are false prophets. It’s not that some of them don’t have some clever things to say, but they don’t have the answers for life. They don’t have the truth. They don’t have the wisdom of God. God on the other hand is ready, willing and able to speak His truth and His wisdom in abundance into your life, but are we listening? Psalm 119:59-60:

When I think on my ways, I turn my feet to Your testimonies; I hasten and I do not delay to keep Your commandments.

The man writing this Psalm is praying to God, and what he’s saying is, “You know, LORD, I’ve been thinking about this. I spend a lot of time in Your Word. I think about my ways: How I think; how I speak; how I behave, and when I bring those two things together, Your Word and my ways, I can’t help it. I turn my feet to walk in Your testimonies; in Your Word; in Your ways. I hasten; I don’t delay. As surely as night follows day, I end up keeping Your commandments.”

What’s happening there is that this man is reading God’s Word; reflecting on it; thinking about it; receiving it, and then responding to it with his life. That is how powerful Godly change happens in our lives: Read, reflect, receive, respond. Let me say that again. Read God’s Word, reflect on it; think about what God’s saying to you and compare it to how you’re living life at the moment, receive that Spirit-breathed Word into your heart, and respond to it with your life. No one else can do that for you. No one else can bring that sort of powerful change to your life.

God has a Plan for Your Life

Let me be perfectly honest with you. I hate pain: Physical pain, emotional pain … I mean, I just hate it. I’m sure you do too. It’s simply our natural response to pain, because pain is an indication that something’s wrong. If you start getting chest pains, you’d better call an ambulance quick. If you’re out running and all of a sudden, a sharp pain shoots through your hamstring, you’d better stop, quick. We’re programmed to avoid pain because pain says there’s something wrong. Right? But sometimes, pain happens. Hey, there’s a great bumper sticker for your car. Pain happens and sometimes that pain, that trial, that difficult relationship, that knife in your back, that rejection, is part of God’s plan to bless you. ‘What? Are you crazy?’ No, that’s just what my Bible tells me. Have a listen. Psalm 119:69-71:

The insolent smear me with lies, but with my whole heart, I keep Your precepts. Their heart is unfeeling like fat, but I delight in Your Law. It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn Your statutes.

What’s the matter with this guy? It is good for me that I was afflicted? Really? But how many times have you heard people say, “I only really grow as a person when I go through difficult times?” It’s one of those truisms that gets tossed around by people who aren’t at the moment travelling through difficult times, but what about when you’re in the middle of something? Like, as in this case, the insolent smearing you with lies. It’s not funny; it’s so unfair, and what we want to do is whatever we can to stop the pain now! “I’ll smear them with lies; that’ll do it. I’ll show him. I’ll sort him out. I’ll fix him.” You know the sort of thing. Don’t get angry; get even. Right? But that’s not God’s way. Jesus said crazy things like turn the other cheek; go the extra mile, and when it came to people trumping up charges against Him, He stood there quietly (not defending Himself) and ended up being crucified as a result.

Sometimes God uses those terrible things to change our hearts; to teach us in the difficult times, so that we might learn His ways in our experience. Think of it as on-the-job training. It’s the best sort. It’s not a theory lesson that happens in a classroom, but a practical that happens out in the real world. Hebrews 5:8:

Although he was a son, Jesus learned obedience through what He suffered.

Hebrews 12:6, 11:

God disciplines those whom He loves, and chastises every son whom He receives. For the moment, all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

None of us like being told what to do. We all have that, ‘I did it my way’ streak in us. I think the second word that most children learn after mum, mum, mum is no, no, no. Anyone who’s had kids will remember the terrible twos, not to mention those challenging teenage years; that streak of rebellion; that desire to do it my way starts early-on. It’s almost as though we’re programmed that way. King David said it like this, when he was talking to God in repentance for having committed adultery and murder. Psalm 51:5:

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.

Theologians call it the doctrine of original sin, this idea that we’re born with a stain of sin on our very DNA. And so, no matter what stage we’re at in life, there’s this rebellious streak that raises its ugly head from time to time, in all of us. How many times have you looked back on something that you did your way, only to realise the world of pain that it ended up dumping on your head?

So often we do things out of a wrong heart; for the wrong reasons; with the wrong motivations, and there are always, always consequences to that. When we were teenagers, we used to do stupid things because we were teenagers, and we acted out of our immaturity. Well, fair enough, but at some point, we’re meant to grow up. At some point, we’re meant to enter that journey of maturity. That’s the place the Psalmist was at when he wrote these words. Psalm 119:72, 127:

The Law of Your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces. Therefore, I love Your commandments above gold, above fine gold.

So let me ask you: Are God’s ways the right ways? Is God’s wisdom the right wisdom? Well, obviously, so what do you desire more; God’s way, or your way? The good fruit that God’s ways bring, or the painful consequences that your own ways bring crashing down on your life? That’s why God disciplines us when we go wandering off on our own way. That’s why He lets us suffer the consequences of our sin when we turn our backs on Him; because He loves us.

As a father, when my children were young, one of the things that I was always keen to do was to let them suffer the consequences of their own mistake. “Oh, Dad, I’m running late for school. Can you drive me?” “No.” “But I’ll get in trouble!” “Good.” They’ve learnt responsibility pretty quickly that way.

The point that the Psalmist is making here is that God’s ways are so good because when we live them, they yield blessing rather than pain. His commandments are so much better than silver or gold; so much better.

As you look back on your life, no doubt, you can see a string of missed opportunities. I certainly can. Times when we have the opportunity to do right; to honour God; to bless other people, and we just fail to grab those opportunities with both hands. Instead, sadly all too often, we’re prone to insolence. That’s a strong word, but when you realise who God is, when you have a right fear of God in your heart, you realise that it’s the right word. Insolence. A flagrant disregard for God’s will and God’s ways; a disrespect so deep of a God who loves us so much that He sent Jesus to die for us.

I shake my head at some of the bad decisions that I’ve made in the past, and you know something? With all my heart, I don’t want to go there again. That insolence brings shame to our hearts. It brings regret to our hearts. It robs us of joy and peace, of the abundant life that Jesus came to give us. With all my heart, I want to make good decisions – the best decisions; decisions today, the next day, the day after that, that honour God and bring glory to Him. But I know (and I suspect you know this about yourself too) that left to my own devices, I’m more likely than not to botch it up again. Psalm 119:78-80:

Let the insolent be put to shame, because they have wronged me with falsehood; as for me, I will meditate on Your precepts. Let those who fear You turn to me, that they may know Your testimonies. May my heart be blameless in Your statutes, that I may not be put to shame.

I’ve watched my behaviour carefully over the years. On the days when I’ve spent unhurried, precious time with God in the morning, with the door closed and the book open, it’s been so much easier to honour Him. Whilst on those days when I didn’t make that time, I was far more prone to making bad decisions. How about you? Have you noticed that about yourself too?

We have a choice, you and I: A choice between living a blameless life honouring God, or a life of shame as we live out the consequences of our sin. It’s a simple, clear choice, but to choose the right way, we need wisdom and we need power. Am I right? And that wisdom, that power, come over and over again in bucket-loads, in abundance, from God’s Word.

God doesn’t want you to be insolent and filled with shame. He wants you to know the joy and the peace that come from living the blameless life that He has planned for you.

Praying Through the Clouds

Sunshine is something that we naturally equate with blessing. When the sun’s shining, it casts a different light on our circumstances. I happen to live in the beautiful harbour city of Sydney in Australia, and when the sun’s shining, you’d have to say Sydney Harbour with the bridge and the opera house is absolutely stunning. Truly, one of the great sights anywhere in the world, but I always feel so sorry for tourists who travel halfway round the world to see it, only to arrive on a dull, wet, windy day. It’s just not the same when it isn’t bathed in that bright sunlight.

The same holds true in our lives. We want blessing to shine on us all the time, but just as with sunny weather, it seems to come and go without any great rhyme or reason. One moment the blessing is shining down upon us; the next minute, the clouds blow in and on those dull, overcast, gloomy days, life simply isn’t the same. So on those days, how do you lay hold of God’s blessing? Psalm 119:132-135:

Turn to me and be gracious to me, as is Your way with those who love Your name. Keep steady my steps according to Your promise, and let no iniquity get dominion over me. Redeem me from man’s oppression, that I may keep Your precepts. Make Your face to shine upon Your servant, and teach me Your statutes.

This man knows God. He doesn’t just know about God; he knows God, because he’s praying into the very nature of God, relying on who God is:

Turn to me and be gracious to me, as is Your way with those who love Your name.

He’s praying through the clouds and into the sunshine; into the very nature of God. Don’t you love that? Keep me steady, God. Keep me relying on Your promises. Don’t let sin get the better of me. Redeem me; save me from human oppression. Why? So that I can lie on the beach and bathe in the sun? No! So that I may keep Your precepts; so that I can live life according to Your Word; so that I can get on and be about Your business for Your glory.

Here is a man who is a man of God’s Word. That much is plain the moment you start reading Psalm 119, and let me tell you, it’s well worth a read in its entirety. And as he prays through the clouds, from the gloomy side to the bright side, he finishes by asking this of God: Make Your face to shine upon me, and teach me Your statutes. You see, the two are linked: God’s blessing, and God’s Word. In fact, they’re inseparable. Listen to me. God wants to bless you, and that blessing is ready and waiting in His Word.

Well, in the few moments that we have left together today, I just want to pray God’s blessing into your life. Are you ready?

Father God, You know all the things that we’re struggling with right at the moment. Thank You so much that You’re involved in our lives. Thank You so much that You care and thank You, thank You that You’ve given us Your Word, the Bible, breathed through Your Holy Spirit; preserved with incredible accuracy down through the ages, so that You can continue to speak to us here and now. LORD, some people today are just struggling to get into Your Word; to open their Bibles every day, and just receive what You have for them.

Well, LORD, I pray right now that You would pour Your Holy Spirit on each one of us. LORD, light a fire in our hearts; a burning desire to be close to You, I pray; a ravenous appetite to hear from You. Stretch us; unsettle us; make us hungry; make us thirsty for Your Word, and then fill us, LORD, to overflowing with Your Spirit and Your Word. Father, teach us Your precepts; Your ways; Your wisdom; Your goodness, and LORD, make Your face to shine upon us. This we pray up through the clouds, LORD, believing in Your faithfulness. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Friend, my prayer for you is that your life will be completely turned upside-down as you receive God’s Word into your heart.

The reason that so many people who believe in Jesus are struggling is, quite frankly, because they’re not men and women of God’s Word. They don’t take God’s Word seriously. Well, today, that’s something we need to deal with, because there is such an incredible blessing waiting for you, in God’s Word!

God’s Work Takes Time

Waiting for something that you really want, waiting and waiting and waiting, is incredibly hard. Particularly if, during that waiting, you’re enduring some kind of hardship. Some sort of suffering. Something that you’ve been asking God for, again and again, for Him to deal with. To bring a resolution to the problem, and end your suffering.

You’ve no doubt been in places where sometimes, it doesn’t seem as though a resolution, an end, is even possible. How long do I have to wait?

Some people find it surprising that the Bible actually deals with that very question. It contains the heart cries of people who are exactly in that position. Like this particular guy, Psalm 119, verses 84 to 88:

How long must your servant endure? When will you judge those who persecute me? The insolent have dug pitfalls for me; they do not live according to your law. All your commandments are sure; they persecute me with falsehood; help me! They have almost made an end of me on the earth, but I have not forsaken your precepts. In your steadfast love give me life, that I may keep the testimonies of your mouth.

Hmm, it seems like this man is in fear of life itself. We never find out who “they” are, but they are certainly his enemies and they are certainly after his life. It doesn’t get any worse than that. And in that place, it’s easy to shake your fist at God, to be bitter and resentful of God, because he’s not showing up.

Yet notice how this man asks the question: How long must your servant endure? The psalmist remains God’s servant, even when his life is being threatened. This isn’t some fairy-tale. It’s a real man, praying to a real God about the injustice and the danger that he’s facing. And despite those things, he remains faithful to God. He continues to trust God – all your commandments are sure – and he’s not swayed or drawn down to the level of the evil that’s pursuing him.

Even though ‘they’ have almost made an end of him on this earth, he has not forsaken God’s precepts. And he pleads his life into God’s hands, so that when this stuff ends, when his suffering ends, he can continue to do good on this earth. That’s powerful stuff!

If you’re suffering right now, I don’t know when or how your suffering will end. I don’t know how long you still have to endure.

But I know this: In the middle of your suffering, in the middle of even the most dangerous and life-threatening of circumstances, you can choose to remain God’s servant, to do good, to stay in God’s Word and to plead your case, even your life, into God’s hands. In fact that’s the very thing that He wants you to do. Because His love for you reaches to the heavens. His faithfulness to the skies.

When a storm blows in on your life, you need to know the truth about God. You need to know, not just in your head, but in your heart and in your experience. As you look back on your life, what are some of the amazing things that God has already done for you.

I remember, even before I knew God, when I was a three packet a day smoker, He took me to a place, where I watched someone die of lung cancer. I haven’t smoked a single cigarette since and that was over thirty-four years ago. I was set free from a serious addiction in that instant.

God’s hand is on our lives even when we have absolutely no idea. And when we know His love and His faithfulness like that, in our hearts and in our experience, we can, like the psalmist, proclaim:

Forever, O LORD, your word is firmly fixed in the heavens. Your faithfulness endures to all generations; you have established the earth, and it stands fast. By your appointment they stand this day, for all things are your servants. If your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction. (Psalm 119 verses 89 to 92)

When the whole earth shakes and trembles the Word of God is still firmly fixed in the heavens. God’s Word is unshakeable and immovable. When generations pass, as they do, His faithfulness endures. That’s what I call a rock-solid foundation. And it’s that sort of foundation that you and I need in our lives to withstand all the challenges and the storms and the wilderness experiences.

The reason I open my Bible most mornings is because that’s where I choose for my foundations to be. I, like you, have things that come along to rock me and to shake me. Things that could easily blow me over.

I so get it when the psalmist says there, if God’s law, God’s Word, hadn’t been his delight, he would have perished in his affliction.

Let me make it plain and clear. Unmistakable. In God’s Word is your refuge, in God’s Word is your strength. When you sit and listen to Him speaking into your heart, something happens to change you in the most incredible way. I know … I know that many people struggle hugely to get into God’s Word, either because they think that they don’t have time, or they imagine that it’s too difficult.

But take just that one Scripture, Psalm 119, verses 89 to 92, just spend some time in those three verses in the middle of your affliction and I guarantee you that the Holy Spirit will show up. I guarantee you that God will take that Word of His and breathe courage into your heart and life into your weary bones. Because that’s what He does and that’s what He wants to do.

A Powerful Word

I remember back in the days when I worked as a consultant in the corporate world, the brutality of office politics would never cease to amaze me.

And even if you’re not travelling through a patch at the moment, where you don’t seem to have any human enemies, you can be absolutely certain that your enemy the devil is on your case. Ephesians chapter 6, verse 12:

We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in heavenly places.

And your enemy the devil is a pretty crafty individual. He’s seen it all before. He’s been around the block quite a few times more than you and me, and he knows how to strike you at your weakest point. He knows how to push your buttons. He knows how to lead you astray. 1 Peter chapter 5, verse 8:

Be sober-minded and watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

Sensational! Now, I’m not the sort of person that goes looking for a demon under every sofa and bed, but there is a spiritual dimension and there is a physical dimension. We live and exist in both places and we have enemies, seen and unseen, in both dimensions.

So, would you like to be wiser than your enemies? Here’s what God has to say – Psalm 119 verses 97 to 101 – have a listen:

Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day. Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies, for it is ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the aged, for I keep your precepts. I hold back my feet from every evil way, in order to keep your word.

So there you have the psalmist praying, talking to God. And he’s saying how much he loves God’s Word, what today we call the Bible. Of course back then, he only had the first five books of the Bible, the law as it’s called, because the rest of it hadn’t been written yet.

But why does he love God’s Word? Because God’s commandments make him wiser than all his enemies. They give him more understanding and insight into complex and difficult issues, even more so than his teachers – because he thinks about what God has to say.

Hey, God wants that for you too. He wants to impart His wisdom to you too. He wants to make sure that you are smarter, that you have more insight than your enemies, by speaking His wisdom into your heart. And it’s all right there, in the Bible, ready and waiting!

And it’s never too late. You’re never too old to receive the wisdom of God into your heart.

I want to tell you about a friend of mine, Neil. He’s well into his eighties and he’s lived, shall we say, a pretty colourful life. After a recent operation his body is a bit frail now, but his mind and his wit are as sharp as ever.

Recently, he decided it was time he had a Bible. Here’s how it happened. He’s been coming along to church for years. You know how it is, his wife had been dragging him along. At first he kicked and screamed and he didn’t want to come. But after a few years, it became a bit of a habit.

So, he rushes up to me after a service a few months back and says, “Berni I need your help. I’ve decided you’re right. I need to start reading the Bible. Can you help me buy one?”

Wow, that got me a bit excited, so I did. I ordered a study Bible for him online a few months ago in a contemporary English translation. At which point I promptly forgot about it.

Just the other Sunday, before the service, Neil grabs my hand and says, “It’s changed me you know, that book I’ve been reading.”

Me, I’ve completely forgotten, so I stupidly asked him, “Which book?”

A little surprised he answers, “Well, the Bible of course.” Ding, I remembered.

But there was a light in his eyes. A spark in his voice. He was excited about it, because he realised that through the Bible, God had been speaking to him in a deep, personal, intimate way. God was digging around inside this old man’s heart and unearthing things that had been binding him up and holding him back for decades.

As I watched Neil and listened to the genuine enthusiasm in his voice, it brought such an incredible sense of joy to my heart. Here was a man who had discovered the power of God’s Word. And it reminded me of this beautiful Scripture – Psalm 119 verse 103:

How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!

We’re genetically programmed to like sugar, because it’s a ready source of energy. Of course these days sugar is in everything and it’s killing us. But back when that Psalm was written, sugar was a rarity. Either you had to be next to a fruit tree in season, or you had to fight the bees for their honey, which was always going to be mildly problematic.

So you can imagine the psalmist talking here about this rare, exquisite, sweet thing called honey. And he’s saying: “God your Word is like honey, only sweeter, only better. I love your Word more than honey.”

Could I ask you plainly: Is that a discovery that, like the psalmist, like Neil, you’ve made in your heart? Because it’s a discovery that’s ready and waiting for you right now. A discovery that’s going to light up your world in a way that’s difficult to imagine.

Darkness is a fact of life. Every night the sun goes down, every morning it comes up again. Light, darkness, light, darkness. It’s an inexorable cycle. And the whole point about darkness is that you can’t see.

I mean, sight is arguably one of the most important of our five senses. If you don’t believe me, blindfold yourself for 24 hours and just see how you get on. So when darkness creeps in on our lives, as it does from time to time, the problem we have is that we can’t see through it.

Think back to the last dark patch that you went through in your life. You were sad, you were broken, you were hurt, you were alone, whatever it was. I’m sure you remember it as though it was yesterday. Hey, it could even be that today is a dark day for you.

So let me ask you, how well did you make decisions in those dark times? Should I go this way, should I go that way? Should I choose this, or let it pass? Should I choose that, or keep away from it because it’s going to hurt me, or because it’s not God’s best for me? It’s not easy is it?

Even when things don’t seem all that dark, the truth is that we’re always making decisions with incomplete information. You and I don’t know what tomorrow will bring. You and I don’t know what other people are thinking and how they’re going to react. You and I don’t know what God’s thinking and what His plans are.

But He does want to tell us. He does want to shed light on the situation for us. He does want to guide our steps. And He does that through His Word. Psalm 119 verses 104 and 105:

Through your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way. Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

In other words, when you read the Bible you get God’s understanding of what’s going on and you don’t want to make the wrong decision. God’s Word lights up your heart. It becomes, in a very real sense, a lamp for your feet, to help you take the next step and the next one after that. And a light to your path, to help you look up and see ahead.

It’s with that light that God wants to light up your heart. It’s that light that God wants to throw out at your feet now, to help you take that next step. It’s that light that God wants to shine on the path ahead, to give you some sense of where it’s going.

No, He probably won’t give you the whole picture, but enough to get you heading in the right direction. He wants to do that for you, right now.

Let’s Get Things Straight Here

Okay, today it’s time to call a spade a spade.

Fact: Most of the people who say that they believe in Jesus, don’t read the Bible on a regular basis.

Fact: Most of the people who say they believe in Jesus, when push comes to shove, will go with instinct over and above what God’s Word says in making a decision – be it a big one, or a small one.

Fact: Most of the people who say they believe in Jesus are suffering through the consequences of sin that could have been avoided, if only they’d given God’s Word sway in their hearts.

I wonder, are you like ‘most Christians’, who don’t take God’s Word seriously enough to allow it to be the guiding light in your life? I’m not here to give you a guilt trip. I am here, simply to help you make up your mind. Psalm 119, verse 113:

I hate the double-minded, but I love your law.

There you have the person who wrote that Psalm, saying to God, “I am so sick of the double-minded. I’ve made up my mind God. I love your Word. I love what you have to say. I love the way that I can be rock solid in my faith, no matter what this world throws at me because I am a man of your Word”. That’s the effect of what he’s saying to God.

Are you in a position to be able to say that to God? Or, to be blunt, are you swinging this way and that?

Well, you know God, I’d love to be like that but reading the Bible, every day, I’m a bit busy you know and I have a lot of pressures you know and … then, I hear a message at church and I realise I should read my Bible, but then life takes over again … well God, you know how it is.

You see, double-mindedness doesn’t work. James chapter 1, verses 5 to 8:

If any of you lacks in wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

It’s time to make up your mind. Are you going to be a man or a woman of God’s Word, or not? Do you want to live a powerful, victorious life in Jesus, or not? Do you want to have God’s Wisdom, God’s guidance, or not? Do you want to have the joy and the peace that Jesus died and rose again to give you, or not? Because let me tell you, the “or not” quite simply is not God’s will for your life. It’s just not.

Because when push comes to shove, when the going gets tough, God wants you to know where to flee. God wants to be your refuge place. God wants the best for you in those dark times. But unless we’re ready, unless we have His Word in our hearts, that simply isn’t going to happen.

When disaster strikes, where do you turn? When people are nasty to you, where do you turn? When you just don’t know which way to turn, where do you turn?

Well, where do you turn? The Bible is full of verses about God being the place where we can and should turn. Psalm 119, verse 114:

You are my hiding place and my shield; I hope in your word.

When the chips are down, we can hope in God’s Word. In what God says. We can believe in His Word above the world’s words. We can believe in His faithfulness above the world’s seductive promises.

The problem is that so many of the people who say that they’re Christians, who say that they believe in Jesus, who say that they trust God simply can’t live out what they say, because they don’t have the Word of God in them. Psalm 91, verses 1 and 2:

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the LORD, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”

Great, but let me tell you, you simply can’t cry out to God, “God you are my refuge and my fortress, in you I trust”, with any real conviction from the middle of your storm unless first, the Holy Spirit has written that Word on your heart. And He won’t have written it on your heart, unless you were in God’s Word beforehand.

Hey, we all have storms. We all go through dark times. I do and you do. But the man who is a man of God’s Word, and the woman who is a woman of God’s Word, they sail through those storms in victory. Even though their emotions are all over the place, even though they’re struggling and in pain, they know in their heart of hearts that their King reigns. That’s the confidence that you get from being in God’s Word every day.

I have a friend who calls himself a Christian and I know him well enough to know that he is. He believes in Jesus with all his heart. But he refuses to get into God’s Word. He doesn’t like to read, so hey, the Bible is just an optional extra.

No thank you sir. That’s just not true, because when the storms of life hit, I want to be grounded in the Word of God. I want the confidence of God alive and well in my heart.

I have a Word for you today from the Lord. Listen carefully to what He says, and my prayer is that by the power of the Holy Spirit, you will receive it into your heart. John chapter 8, verse 31:

Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you abide in my word, then you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”